Monday, January 5, 2015

I've been in Burkina Faso for two nights now. I haven't had to use an alarm clock yet because I've woken up to chickens, dogs, and music each morning. I landed in Burkina around 9pm on on Saturday night. We had to go through security/health (sante) and get fingerprinted and get our passports stamped and then collect our luggage. While all of this was happening I met a nice Italian couple who spoke really good English. They were here with some students and they made sure I was all set with everything. They even helped me carry the 50Ib rubber-maid that I was bringing as supplies (I got 2 checked bags so Sheltering Wings sent me the rubber-maid from St. Louis). I was most nervous about going through the airport, so once I got to Mike and Amy and Mosie I was very relieved.

We spent the night at a guest house in Ouaga and it was nice to stretch out for a change...those airplane seats were comfortable but I can't sleep on a plane. I actually lucked out with seats, Boston to Paris I head a bunkhead (the seat right after upperclass so there was extra legroom) and Paris to Ouagadougou I didn't have anyone next to me, checking in online is the way to go!

We went to Cafe Cappuchino for breakfast, it's the "most western restaurant" in the capital and boy was it good! I had a pain chocolat and a cappuchino ("because you have to try it!"). Fantastic.

Then we took the 2ish hour drive out to Yako. The road had been recently redone "courtesy of the American People", which I thought was interesting...I didn't know we funded a road. It was really cool watching the city turn into the country. We got to Yako and I was dropped off at the Sheltering Wings (Ailes de Refuge) guest house where I met Coral. Coral has been here for 2 months and she's here for another two. She's a speech therapist from California and is so energetic and awesome. She gave me a tour and introduced me to all the kids as they were arriving (the older kids go home on breaks from school, in a sense the "orphanage" is more like a boarding school, I'll explain that sometime in more detail). We went to the market to buys food and have had some amazing conversations already. I'd post pictures but the internet won't let me....